Dummy: Sour Times
by Scrunchii
Summary: After the devestating events of Raccoon City, the infection spreads. In a strange town with a strange past slowly unfolding before her eyes, Geri and her friends fight to survive the growing number of monsters around them.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

**N****ote: If you couldn't care less about how Sour Times came to be, skip ahead to the prologue, none of this information is crucial.**

_**A**_bout two to three years ago, I wrote a _Resident Evil_ fan-fiction called _Sour Times_. I called it a _Silent Hill_-_Resident Evil_ crossover because it took place in Silent Hill but in the end that's the only reason it was called a SH-RE crossover – the locations. About a year ago I re-read_ Sour Times _and I was, to say the least, horrified. The spelling errors, grammatical errors, and a ton of continuity errors. I knew it right then and there: I had to rewrite _Sour Times_. I don't even know how many different versions of rewrites there are but every single one of them are saved on my computer in case I find something interesting that I want to include in the final rewrite.

Between writing the original and rewrite I had started writing a sequel, starting a series titled _Dummy_, which I do intend to continue. The title of the sequel will most likely be _It's a Fire_ but it's not etched in stone yet.

_Dummy_ comes from the title of the Portishead album, which includes the songs "Sour Times" and "It's a Fire" so you can probably already see where I'm going with this. Portishead's lyrics and the lead singer, Beth's soft, crooning vocals together create an eerily beautiful sound that played a huge part in creating _Sour Times_, although I must admit, the only reason it was originally going to be titled _Sour Times_ was the beginning of the song, which sounded similar to the introduction song of the first _Silent Hill _game, but when I really looked at the lyrics, I realized what a great song I'd chosen for the start of a hopefully great series.

So in this new and improved _Sour Times_ you can expect new characters, new monsters, more action, more weapons, more deaths, and more Silent Hill!

Much love and _**big kisses**_,  
Steph

**Sour Times**

From the 1994 album, "Dummy," by Portishead

_To pretend no one can find,  
The fallacies of morning rose,  
Forbidden fruit, hidden eyes,  
Courtesies that I despise in me   
Take a ride, take a shot now._

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you do._

_Covered by the blind belief,  
That fantasies of sinful screens,  
Bear the facts, assume the dye,  
End the vows no need to lie, enjoy,  
Take a ride, take a shot now._

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you do._

_Who am I, what and why?  
'Cause all I have left is my memories of yesterday,  
Ohh these sour times._

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you do._

_After time the bitter taste,  
Of innocence decent or race,  
Scattered seed, buried lives,  
Mysteries of our disguise revolve,  
Circumstance will decide._

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you do_

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you_

_'Cause nobody loves me,  
It's true,  
Not like you do_


	2. Prologue

**Dummy – Book One  
Sour Times  
Scrunchii**

**Scrunchii Note: A bit of advice before you start reading _Sour Times_: pay very close attention to the dates and times whenever they're given as its easy to get confused as to what time everything is taking place. **

**Prologue**

**I**

**October 2nd, Monday   
11:23 a.m.**

_**J**_osie Rodriguez hated her job with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Every day she came back to the Rodriguez apartment smelling of French fries and greasy hamburgers, spending seven hours seven days a week listening to the chatter of teenagers and overweight forty-year old men, their mouths stuffed with food that would no doubt be the cause a heart attack by the time they hit fifty. Only five years ago she had graduated from high school with big dreams. She was going to university, she was getting out of Silent Hill, she was going to do big things, going to change the world, to get the Rodriguez family out of that little town and bring them with her to sunny California. And then reality hit her like a ton of bricks and she knew she wasn't getting out of Silent Hill. No one ever did. She would spend the rest of her life behind the cash register of Happy Burger, taking orders and rolling her eyes, trying to wish her way out of the little town that was her prison.

There were those who didn't mind Silent Hill – even, dare she say, _liked_ Silent Hill. One of her best friends, Lucy Flanning, and Lucy's older brother John, loved Silent Hill. John was a mechanic and Lucy was, like Josie, a cashier at Happy Burger. Neither of them got that much money but Silent Hill was hardly expensive. It used to be huge with tourists but then slowly they all stopped coming and Silent Hill fell apart financially. With its lack of tourists, the town suddenly looked gloomy 24/7. Fog rolled across the roads, the sky was a dull gray, and the lake became too cold to swim in. There was talk of abandoning the town, leaving and allowing Silent Hill to be swallowed by the mists, but there were families like the Rodriguez's that couldn't leave. They had nowhere to go, no money to get them there. So Silent Hill was forgotten by the outside world, yet Josie was still here.

And she was miserable.

"Josie, baby, c'mon inside, it's _sooo_ cold out there!" Lucy squealed through the window, shivering in one of John's old wool sweaters. The Flanning siblings had lost their parents years ago, but John, who was nineteen when his parents took their lives together, driving into the lake with the doors locked, took care of Lucy, who had been only thirteen. Lucy and John lived alone in their own house, not even a mile away from town. October had brought early snow and the Flanning siblings and Josie found themselves stuck in the Flanning house, the snow too deep to let them go anywhere.

"Jo-Jo, come on!" John called from the kitchen. "I made hot cocoa!" Josie sighed and pulled open the screen door, glad to have an actual excuse to skip out on work. She'd gone to pick up Lucy so they could drive to work together, as always, when it started to snow. She'd come an hour early so they could watch their soap opera together and by the time they were ready to leave, the snow was past the tires of Josie's car.

John was wearing a thick cotton sweatshirt and a pair of faded jeans, hanging loosely on his thin frame. Josie had had a crush on John for years, a crush she'd never let Lucy know about. With his out-of-place large nose and thin face, John wasn't the definition of handsome, yet there was something about him Josie found herself drawn to. John, however, had never shown any interest in Josie. He'd had a girlfriend for about four years at one time but they had broken up months ago. John wasn't entirely over the girl, but Josie liked to fool herself into believing one day he'd look at her and not see a second little sister, but as Josie, the girl who had been at his side since she and Lucy were three years old.

John handed Josie a cup of warm hot chocolate and Lucy pressed her own mug against her cheek, smiling at the warmth of it. She sighed contentedly and sat back against the soft, squishy couch in the Flanning living room.

"John, you really do make the best hot chocolate _ever_!" Lucy declared loudly. Lucy was small with a thin frame like John, with soft, kittenish hair and big blue eyes, but she had a loud mouth on her and she exercised it with every opportunity she could find. John's old wool sweater seemed to swallow Lucy up, the sleeves rolled up at least five times so Lucy could see her hands, her own faded jeans hanging on her little hips.

John had let Josie borrow one of his sweaters as well when he saw she was only wearing a thin, long-sleeved shirt and her black Dickies pants. Josie wished she looked as small and delicate as Lucy did in John's shirt. Josie had a large chest, strong arms, and broad shoulders so the sweater didn't look as huge on her as it did on Lucy. She watched her best friend enviously, wanting the girl's soft blond hair, her big blue eyes, small pink lips, delicate, skinny frame. John always went for girls like that. Not once had Josie seen John with a girl wearing a pant size over five. Josie was a ten.

"So, Jo-Jo, darling, I've heard you have yourself a B.F.," John said with a wink. He put one of his feet on the coffee table and leaned his elbows on his knee, still holding his cup of cocoa.

Josie felt her cheeks burning and felt like a teenager all over again. _Twenty-three years old and you're still blushing at the mention of a new boyfriend? Grow up!_ Josie scolded herself but she knew she was still blushing.

"Yup," Lucy piped up, brightening at the mention of new gossip. "It's Will Hahn, the grocery-store guy." She followed her brother's lead and winked at Josie. "He's a real cutie-pie, eh, Josie?" Lucy elbowed Josie playfully and giggled. John grinned.

"He a good guy?" he asked, his smile fading slightly. Josie nodded shyly, knowing John was only protective of her because she was like his little sister, not because he wanted her for himself. Too often had she tried to fool herself into believing any minute John would pull her aside and confess he loved her. But she knew it was a fantasy, and it would always be a fantasy. She wasn't John's type, anyway.

"Will's great," Lucy prattled on. "He and Josie make a great couple, they even look good together. You know, like, when they stand side-by-side, they look good. That's important 'cause when you pose together in pictures and stuff you should look good otherwise it'll look bad and that's not good."

"I thought Will had a girlfriend," John said to Josie, ignoring Lucy as she continued to go on about couples who looked good together. "That city-girl, Emilie?"

"Will said they broke up," Josie said with a shrug. "I mean, she hasn't come to Silent Hill for months. It was just a matter of time…" She let the sentence hang in the air. John's last girlfriend had broken up with him for just that reason. She wanted to get out of Silent Hill and when she finally managed it, John wouldn't go with her. For a few months, they tried a long-distance relationship, fooling themselves into believing John would eventually decide to leave Silent Hill, but eventually she had just given up and that was the end of that.

"Well that's great, Josie, I'm glad," John said and took a gulp of his hot chocolate. Josie sipped from her own mug, feeling the warm liquid burning her throat. The window behind her was cold and even though it was shut, the cold from outside was managing to seep into the house, settling on the bones of the three friends.

"Yeah…" Josie said softly, looking down at her mug of hot chocolate.

There was a moment of silence and finally Lucy spoke up. "Wanna watch TV?" she said brightly, reaching for the remote. Without waiting for an answer, she hit the power button and the TV screen lit up. A reporter's face took up the whole screen, smaller, less important news items flying across the bottom of the screen in little orange letters. The reporter's hair was perfectly in place, her teeth straight and white, face flawless. Her eyebrows were furrowed, giving her a concerned look and it took the television a second for the sound to kick in.

"…nothing more than an elaborate hoax, playing on the very real tragedy which overwhelmed Raccoon City earlier this week," the woman said, shaking her head. "The perpetrators of the hoax, Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera, are being sought for questioning by the FBI." Two pictures took the place of the reporter's face. The picture on the right was an attractive woman, probably a few years older than Josie, with short brown hair and a no-nonsense expression, the picture on the left was a handsome man with strong features and the same serious expression as the woman.

"Oo," Lucy cooed, raising an eyebrow. "He's cute…" She winked mischievously at Josie and giggled.

"Yeah, he's also a sick bastard," John said, his expression stony. Lucy's smile immediately disappeared and the three were silent. John's oldest and best friend, Eric, had been in Raccoon City when the reactor of the nuclear power station when critical, killing everyone in Raccoon City.

"…in fact, she was part of the elite Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, or S.T.A.R.S., before she was suspended. The details of the suspension are unknown, but a source with the Umbrella Corporation has indicated that it had to do with similar hoax perpetration. As for Olivera, he is a former Umbrella employee who was let go shortly before the accident, and was last sighted at a cabin in the woods. It is possible that he holds a grudge against Umbrella and was working with Valentine to discredit the company with Morales as their unwitting dupe…"

Lucy turned off the TV, looking worriedly at John. "You okay?" she asked softly. It had been two months since the Raccoon City tragedy but it was obvious the mention of the incident still hurt John. Not that Josie was surprised; if Lucy had been in Raccoon City when it was destroyed she didn't know what she would have done.

"I'm fine," John said, shrugging. "I'm just mad that people would go and do something sick like that when…you know, something horrible like that happened. It's disturbing. I just hope they catch those two."

Josie and Lucy exchanged glances, not sure what to say. Lucy was a sweet girl, caring and she could be sensitive, but she was horrible at providing comfort. Josie didn't like to think of Lucy as selfish but in a way, she was. She was twenty-three years old but inside Lucy really was just a child.

"I've gotta go take a piss," John said and put down his hot chocolate, walking out of the living room as quickly as possible.

"Think he's gonna be okay?" Josie asked Lucy when she was sure John couldn't hear her.

"Yeah, John's fine," Lucy said with a shrug. She grinned at Josie. "You know John's a trooper. He and Eric were really close though. I think that…" Lucy bit her lip and shook her head. "Never mind, actually, it's really stupid."

"What?" Josie poked Lucy's elbow. "What's stupid?"

"I just, I dunno, I think John and Eric were…you know." Lucy raised her eyebrows, leaning her head forward. "I think they were secretly a couple. You know, gay?"

Josie burst out laughing, the serious mood of the conversation ruined. "John?" she said in a hushed voice. "Gay? I don't think so." Lucy nodded earnestly, holding her head high. "What about all his girlfriends?"

"They never meant anything to him," Lucy said. "He and Eric were making plans on moving to Raccoon City together. The only reason John hadn't left yet was because of me. He was going to make sure I was completely taken care of and then he and Eric were going to move into the apartment Eric had just bought in Raccoon City. If it wasn't for me, John would have been in Raccoon City when it was destroyed."

"But that doesn't prove he's gay," Josie insisted, crossing her arms.

"I'm his sister," Lucy said, shaking her head. "I know John better than anyone else. I'm telling you, there was something going on between him and Eric and it wasn't just friendship."

Josie frowned, suddenly unsure. Who was she to say whether or not John was gay? The only reason she was being so defensive was because she didn't want to believe it – if John was gay it would ruin any chance she had of being with him.

"Let's just watch TV," Lucy said, turning the TV back on. "But not the news…" She changed the channel before the sound turned and flipped through the channels until the girls saw the familiar face of the host of one of their favorite reality shows. They sat back and settled into the squishy couch, both trying not to dwell on their last conversation. Josie hated it when she and Lucy disagreed on anything, although it happened quite often. The awkward silence lasted until finally one of the contestants said something so stupid the girls couldn't help but giggle together.

Their giggling was cut short by a loud, urgent knock on the door. Josie looked at Lucy expectantly but Lucy ignored her, obviously not interested in getting up to answer the door. Josie sighed and stood, looking out the window by the couch to see who was on the porch. A pudgy arm pressed against the screen blocked the view and Josie looked out the peephole on the door. Her boyfriend, Will Hahn, stood at the door, looking around urgently and suddenly he grabbed the door handle and pulled open the door. Josie jumped back and Will pushed the pudgy man into the house, then slammed the door behind him, locking it.

"Hi, Will, what's going on?" Josie asked hesitantly, trying to smile. Will ignored her and looked out the window, his eyes wide and panicked.

"Arthur, make sure the doors are locked," Will said to the pudgy man, Arthur, and pushed past Josie, checking all the windows. "Where's John?" he asked Josie, his voice sharp and demanding.

"Um, the bathroom, I think…" Josie said. "Will, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, Jo, something weird," Will said, shaking his head. "Haven't they gotten here yet?" He didn't wait for her to reply, just pressed his index fingers against his temples and added in a hushed voice, more to himself than to anyone else. "No, the snow probably slowed them down. Good…that gives us a bit of time…"

"Time for what?" Josie felt her pulse racing. Lucy was standing now, holding Josie's arm with a surprisingly strong grip. "Who are 'they'?"

Arthur came back to the living room and nodded at Will. "Back door's locked," Arthur said. "Windows too."

"John!" Will shouted. "Shit…John!" He hurried out of the living room to the bathroom. "John we've gotta get out of here. C'mon, hurry up!" Josie could hear Will pounding his fist on the bathroom door and only seconds later the door swung open and John came out of the bathroom, his eyes swollen and red, as though he'd been crying.

"What's wrong with you?" John asked incredulously.

"Don't even ask," Will said, pushing John toward the bedroom. "You've gotta get packed…Actually, no, don't even bother. Where are your keys?" Will looked out the window, his long, brown hair falling in front of his eyes. "They're going to be here soon."

"Will, we can't drive in this snow, it's way too deep," Josie said, her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with you?"

"They're these…these things," Will said, running his hand through his long hair. "I can't even describe them without sounding crazy…"

"They're zombies," Arthur blurted out, his fat face growing red.

Josie, John, and Lucy burst out laughing. "Didn't you guys see the news?" Josie said with a grin. "That tape was a hoax, we just saw it on TV."

"We're not talking about that!" Will yelled, the veins on his forehead looking like they were about to burst. "Maybe it's the same thing, but whatever these are they're real, we just saw it in town!"

"Okay, sure, Will," Josie said, rolling her eyes. "Call me when you've got your sanity back."

"Josie, I swear to God, I'm telling you the truth. We've got to get out of Silent Hill." Will took Josie's hands in his own, squeezing them. "Jo, please, just listen to me. I'm not lying to you, I just want to get you out of here, please…"

"Will…"

"Please."

"Fine, whatever." Josie rolled her eyes again and shrugged at John and Lucy. "I still don't believe you, don't think I believe you."

"You don't have to," Will said, looking out the window again. "Gimme your keys. Arthur, make sure it's safe."

Arthur nodded ran out the door. It was as he was shutting the door that Josie noticed the gun in his hand. She felt her heart stop for a moment and she turned to Will. "Why does he have a gun?" she asked softly, her voice suddenly hoarse.

Will ignored her and grabbed Lucy with his free hand, pulling the girls to the front door. "John, come on."

"Will…why does he have a gun?" Josie felt sick. Will continued to ignore her, staring ahead, his shoulder-length hair hiding his face.

"Arthur?" Will asked, pressing his face against the screen. The pudgy man stood in the knee-deep snow, looking around carefully. His hand shook, probably more from fear than the cold.

"Shit!" Arthur suddenly yelled and Josie closed her eyes, hearing two gunshots, then the sound of thundering steps on the porch. "Open the fucking door!" Arthur yelled, pounding his fat fists against the door.

Will swung open the door and Arthur squeezed inside. They slammed it shut behind him and locked the door.

"We're too late," Arthur said, shaking his head. "They're here, they're already fucking here!"

"How many?" Will asked. Josie let go of his hand and shakily made her way to one of the windows. She peeked out and felt sick. There were at least fifty people outside, all shuffling toward the house slowly. Every one of them was soaked with blood, a few of them missing some limbs, their faces torn, clothing ripped, flesh shredded. Josie stepped away from the window and threw up. Will turned and pulled Josie away from the window. He looked up and Josie felt him stiffen. "Shit," Will whispered. "John, you've got a basement, right?"

"Yeah," John said, his face pale.

"Does it have a lock on the inside?"

"I think so."

"Let's go."


	3. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

**I**

**Seven Days Later**

**October 8th, Monday   
7:21 a.m.**

_Tuesday, October 3rd – The virus has spread from Raccoon City to all the surrounding areas Wednesday, October 4th – Planes have stopped. Nearly all states of US have been infected.  
Sunday, October 7th – The virus has become airborne and spread to Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Rumors about Australia are unconfirmed.  
Monday, October 8th – All TV channels are static. No communication._

_**"I**_s that all you ever do?" Elliot asked, sitting down next to Geri. Geri looked down at her notebook, sighing. She pushed the power button on the TV and the static of the TV was gone, leaving Geri and Elliot in silence.

"It's all I want to do," Geri said with a shrug. She closed the yellow spiral notebook, the pages full of cramped writing, rough sketches of zombies and mutant dogs. She'd been turning on the TV every morning since the outbreak and written down anything important. Today there was nothing.

Elliot chuckled, his youthful dimples reminding Geri he was just a kid. She'd never asked Elliot how old he was but she estimated about sixteen or seventeen. For the first few days, he'd been trying to keep his Mohawk up but he'd given up and just left it down, brushing it out of his face and tying a piece of ripped fabric from his shirt around his head. "You'd rather just sit here and write when you could be out there killing those things?" Elliot said incredulously, his brown eyes wide, eyebrows high on his forehead.

Geri didn't answer, just smiled. Elliot had taken a liking to her. He had been trying to get closer to Tony at first but Tony was too interested in Staci's little skirts and long legs to pay attention to a punk kid who wanted to learn how to hold a gun like Tony. On October 2, Geri had run out of her house to do her morning jog when she was pulled into an alley at gunpoint. The man demanded money and when Geri made it clear she had no money on her, she was just going out for a jog, the man pointed his gun at her, preparing to shoot. Geri thought about screaming, kicking, fighting, hell, she even thought about trying to run away. But before she could do any of those things, a woman with a torn, bloody lip and bleeding shoulder bit into the man's neck from behind. Geri had screamed and run out of the alley, terrified, and ran right into the arms of a tall, chubby man. The man's eyes were wide, his face as panicked as Geri's, and the two of them ran down the street together, silently. They were ushered into a fast-food restaurant, a McDonald's look-alike called Happy Burger that was getting popular, especially in Ashfield, by a boy with a Mohawk.

The man Geri had run into introduced himself as George Weston and claimed to know what the things were. The boy, Elliot, and Geri sat down in one of the booths and Weston explained that he was an ex-Umbrella employee and the whole thing was Umbrella's fault.

"It's exactly what happened in Raccoon City," he had said, his round, chubby face sweating heavily. "That 'hoax tape' wasn't a hoax at all but anyone who knew anything about it was silenced by Umbrella and now look what's happened. The virus got out of Raccoon City and it's spreading faster than they can possibly keep up with."

"What virus…what do you mean 'things'," Geri had asked incredulously. "Those 'things' are people, Satanists maybe. They're sick cannibals…"

"No, they're not," Weston had said, shaking his head. "They've been infected by the T-virus. It reanimates dead cells, ultimately bringing the dead back to life, and since the Raccoon City incident, Umbrella has been trying to keep this hushed but what they wouldn't allow themselves to believe is that they don't have control of the situation. The T-virus was originally created in the Hive, a facility under Raccoon City, but when the virus escaped the Hive, after killing all the employees there, it killed everyone in Raccoon City and anyone who escaped was taken by Umbrella for testing. I was one of those researchers and when a man was discovered to have the virus in his system yet he was not dead, he was kept isolated from anyone. One day, he was gone. The next day, many were dead, but they were still walking around. I barely escaped, but it hasn't taken long for it to spread."

"You're joking," Elliot had said, chuckling nervously. "That's impossible."

Weston had only smiled and shook his head.

Only hours later, the three were brave enough to leave Happy Burger with a few other Happy Burger employees and they quickly found Tony and Staci in a gun shop. Staci had been part of an elite team and knew her guns as well as she knew her _Vogue_ magazines - which was well enough to be able to name the person on the cover of every _Vogue _issue back to 2002. Tony wasn't as skilled with his guns but he knew how to aim and he knew how to shoot and that was all that mattered. The two quickly showed Weston, Geri, Elliot, and the two cashiers, Becky and Lena, and the cook, Austin, from Happy Burger how to shoot. Becky, Lena, and Austin were all killed that day when the group made their way through a parking lot to find a car. Elliot, the youngest of the group, was a surprisingly good shot, as was Geri, but Weston was utterly useless with a gun and the only thing he could really contribute to the group was how to kill them – shoot them in the head.

Geri almost couldn't shoot the zombies at first. Her first zombie was one she would never forget, a man in a business suit, his briefcase caught on a hole in his jacket so it made him lean to one side with the weight. The man was inches from her when she finally pulled the trigger. She didn't have time to get over shooting a human because she had three more only a few feet away that she had to get rid of. The next day she would be forced to kill a child.

The group was staying in a hotel in Ashfield, preparing to go to the remains of Raccoon City where they hoped to find some answers. What exactly they were looking for, Geri had no idea. Raccoon City had been where it started so they had just decided that was the place to go. Weston, Tony, and Elliot were staying in the room next to Staci and Geri's but Elliot had come to the girls' room first thing, complaining that between Weston's snoring and Tony muttering in his sleep, he didn't get a single moment of peace.

Staci was in the shower, leaving Geri and Elliot alone.

"Can you go tell Tony to bring the van around front, I think we should get out of here as soon as possible," Geri said. The group had agreed that staying in one place for too long, usually about twelve to fourteen hours, attracted the zombies. They had been trying to keep moving but it didn't matter that much. The zombies were everywhere. According to Weston they'd be going through a small town called Silent Hill on their way to Raccoon City where it should be relatively empty. Geri hoped so. She'd give anything at this point for a day where she wasn't shooting something.

Elliot nodded and stood. A few seconds later Geri heard the hotel room door open and close as Elliot went to the men's room. Geri looked at the yellow notebook again and felt an overwhelming feeling of helplessness wash over her. She couldn't lie to herself, this was almost too much to handle. She'd even thought about taking her life several times. But Geri knew she was stronger than that. She was a survivor and she could beat this. She'd kill to live. Look at how many she'd already killed. Of course, they were already dead, but that wasn't the point.

"You want me to bring the van around front?" a voice asked from the doorway. Geri looked up and saw the slim, fit man that was Tony Bicolatti. Tony's dark Italian good looks and charm made him quite the catch and Geri had admitted more than once to herself that if there was anyone she would want to be stuck with in the face of destruction, it would be Tony. But then, Tony also had a cocky attitude that made him almost unbearable at times.

"Yeah, could you?" Geri asked, fingering the cold coils of the spiral notebook.

"Sure," Tony said with a shrug. "Where's Stace?" He looked around the room, his forearms resting on each side of the doorway, leaning to one side.

"She's taking a shower," Geri said.

"Oh…" Tony grinned. "Can I just go…you know, check on her. We have to make sure she's doing okay in there…by herself. She may need help."

"I think she's fine Tony," Geri said, shaking her head. "Go get the van."

"But I just – "

"Van, Tony!"

Tony shut the door, grumbling irritably to himself. Geri had made up her mind the day she met Tony that he had been a spoiled mama's boy. He was too used to getting his way and with Geri around, it was like a slap in the face. She had a tendency to yell if something didn't go her way and Tony always seemed to find himself being yelled at whether or not it was his fault.

Just as the hotel door closed, the bathroom door opened. Steam followed Staci as she walked to her bed, drying her blond shoulder-length hair with a fluffy white towel. She smiled at Geri when their eyes met but Geri didn't return the smile. She and Staci didn't get along. Staci knew it, Geri knew it, everyone else knew it too. The two tried to act civilized to each other but it usually didn't work out.

"Tony was here?" Staci asked, smirking. Geri almost wanted to smile back at Staci, knowing that even though Staci and Tony were growing closer with each passing day even Staci couldn't resist a smile at Tony being yelled at.

"Yeah, he's going to get the van," Geri said emotionlessly. She got up and brushed past Staci, pulling off her t-shirt as she went to take a shower. As she closed the bathroom door, she heard Elliot opening the hotel room door, asking where she was. She ignored Staci's knocking on the bathroom door and pulled off her bra and panties, turning on the water. This was one of the things she loved about hotels – the water was always warm.

The little shampoo and conditioner bottles were almost empty from Staci's shower but Geri was glad to have any at all. Lately, water had stopped working at most hotels, especially the ones in bigger cities like Ashfield. At least, that's what Geri had heard on the news a few days ago. She wanted to melt under the warm water, feeling the dry blood and dirt washing off her sore body. Even though she hadn't been bitten or scratched – and thank God she hadn't, as that was one of the ways the virus entered the body – she was covered in scratches and cuts from rolling on the ground, climbing over fences, running into walls, and God knew what else.

When she finally felt clean and the miniature soap bar was finally gone, Geri turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing two fluffy white towels, one for her hair, the other for her body.

Geri pulled on her jeans, jeans that weren't too tight but not baggy. She'd picked them up at a shop they'd passed when she realized her jogging outfit was too easy to be pulled off. The last thing she wanted was to be running around in her underwear because a zombie had gotten hold of her pants. Her blue t-shirt was hidden beneath a brown zip-up sweater to guard against the crisp October air.

When Geri left the bathroom, the same steam that had followed Staci following Geri, she was greeted by the faces of the whole group. Elliot dressed in his usual tight, black pants and x-large camouflage jacket, a torn piece of the jacket wrapped around his head to keep his long hair out of his eyes. Weston wore his baggy black pants and large windbreaker, looking out of place and goofy with his large, thick glasses from the '80's. Tony was, of course, wearing his loose fitting jeans and plaid button-up shirt, looking gorgeous as usual. And then there was Staci, in her own tight jeans, the skinny jeans Geri despised, and a long, black and white striped t-shirt with a half jean-jacket to cover her arms, her blond hair pulled up in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes.

Geri looked at Tony expectantly, waiting for him to tell her he'd gotten the van and it was waiting for them out front. Instead, Tony looked hesitant, opened his mouth, then closed, and it opened it again.

"Uh…" he croaked. He cleared his throat and tried to speak again. "The…the van's gone."

Geri raised an eyebrow. "Gone?" she repeated softly. She smiled. "Where could it have gone? No one else is here."

"Maybe someone passed by and saw it," Elliot said with a shrug.

Geri ignored him, not wanting to yell at him. She had a soft spot for Elliot. "We're the only ones with the keys," she reminded everyone. "The doors were locked."

"Listen, it's not Tony's fault!" Staci said suddenly. "Maybe the zombies took it!" Everyone laughed at that, even Tony. Staci looked hurt. "They're getting smarter, you know. They're learning! We saw one open a door yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if they were learning how to drive cars."

"Staci, the only reason that zombie opened the door was because the handle was already down enough so it just had to lean on it and the door would open," Weston said reasonably, his smile calm and kind. "It probably just leaned on it by accident and the door opened. Now, about the van." He turned to Geri, his smile gone. "It was probably someone who knew how to hotwire a car. They broke the window, hotwired the van, and drove off."

"Figures it would be ours," Geri muttered, hated being given a reason not to yell at Tony. She knew, deep down, that it wasn't his fault the van was gone but honestly, she didn't care. She wanted to yell at him so she would.

"Let's just find another car…" Elliot said, happy no one was fighting anymore. Weston smiled at Elliot and nodded.

"There aren't any other ones in the parking lot," Tony said. "The van was the only one."

"I am not walking to Raccoon City!" Staci said, sounding like a spoiled three year old.

"We won't walk," Geri said, rolling her eyes. "We'll find another car in another parking lot, Tony can hotwire it, and we'll drive to Raccoon City."

Staci pouted. "How long d'you think it'll take to find another car?"

"Longer if we don't get moving," Geri said with a shrug. "Let's go.

**II**

**October 2nd, Monday   
8:24 a.m.**

**_E_**milie van Sickle had one thing on her mind when the outbreak began – Will. She and Will had been together for years but when she'd finally had the guts to leave Silent Hill, Will hadn't followed as she'd thought he would. Instead, he stayed behind, claiming they could hold a long-distance relationship. And so far they had. She'd visited a few times but hadn't gone for a few months. She hated the feeling she got whenever she went back to Silent Hill. Like something was trying to pull her back, this thing groping at the back of her skull, pulling her in.

She had pulled on her loose, grey slacks and a beige long-sleeved shirt that morning, taking extra care to curl her waist length blond hair in long, bouncy ringlets. Her make-up was flawless, her heels had never been worn outside, her hair was shiny. She looked gorgeous and she knew it. She was about to get into her car when she saw them. People were screaming, running. Two men ran her way and begged to be let into her car. She almost didn't let them when she saw a child gripping an old woman's leg, chewing on the woman's calf hungrily as the woman screamed, "No! Please, Stevie! Let go!"

It was absolute chaos. She hardly knew what she was doing as she locked the front door and unlocked the side door so the two men could get in. The taller man with the thick black hair and short, scruffy beard sat in the front passenger seat, next to Emilie, and the shorter man with long, blond hair pulled into a loose ponytail climbed into the back seat, shutting the door quickly behind him.

Emilie drove as fast as she could without hitting anyone. People banged their fists on the windows, some begging to be let in, some just snarling, pressing their bloody mouths against the windows, scraping their teeth against the glass.

"Just drive over them!" the black-haired man yelled. Emilie felt sick as she pressed her foot harder against the gas pedal and she heard the anguished screams of the people who weren't eating each other.

"What's going on?" Emilie asked tearfully, feeling herself fall apart.

"Just keep driving," the blond man said.

"I'm Joey O'Connell," the black-haired man said suddenly. With his thumb, he motioned to the backseat saying, "That's Josh Grey."

Emilie didn't bother telling them her name, forcing herself to concentrate on the road. The crowds of people were lessening and she knew she was headed toward Ashfield.

"Where are we going?" Josh asked from the back, leaning forward in his seat to lean his elbows on the two front seats.

"Silent Hill," Emilie said tonelessly.

**III**

**October 2nd, Monday   
10:30 a.m.**

_**W**_ill Hahn sat awkwardly in one of the Happy Burger booths, looking around the half-empty restaurant. No one really wanted to be at Happy Burger first thing in the morning but Josie had made him promise to meet her here. Neither Lucy nor Josie had shown up for work yet, not that Will was too surprised. Josie hated working at Happy Burger and Lucy was completely content with listening to whatever Josie said. No doubt Josie had decided work wasn't worth coming to, especially with the snow. Will checked his watch. Emilie was coming over in a few hours for a visit – the first visit in months.

Will knew he had a decision to make. Josie or Emilie? He wasn't sure how to make the decision. He had only been with Josie for a few weeks, but he'd been with Emilie for years. Could he really just leave her like that? He knew he couldn't. He knew Emilie wouldn't _let_ him. She had sounded so pleased with herself when she called him.

"Will, guess wha-a-at?" she'd sung into the phone when he picked up.

"What?" Will had asked, honestly not in the mood for guessing games.

"I got time off!" Emilie had squealed. "I'm coming down for the weekend! Isn't that great?" Will had celebrated with her, made plans to go down to Rosewater Park, to go downtown and visit the antique shops, to do all the things they used to do. But inside he was groaning. He'd been hoping that all this separation would just make her realize the relationship wouldn't work unless they were together. Will couldn't leave Silent Hill and unless Emilie was interested in staying, they could never be together. Why Emilie continued hoping the relationship would work was beyond him.

So now here Will was, waiting for Josie who was obviously not going to show up and wondering what to do.

"You look pretty troubled," came a voice a few feet away. Will looked up and saw a pudgy man looking at him, a bacon burger squished between his fat fingers. The man grinned at Will. "Girls?" he guessed. Will nodded weakly, feeling his stomach churn. The man's nose was pressed against his face so he looked like a pig, his lips wide and thin like a frog. One of his pointed ears was bent at an odd shape, like a terrier's ear. "I bet a guy like you would have girl problems."

"What do you mean?" Will asked tiredly. He ran his fingers through his brown, shoulder-length hair, feeling it fall in front of his eyes.

"You're one of those pretty boys," the man said, his mouth full of half-chewed burger. "You probably got the girls all over you."

"Hardly," Will said with a good-natured chuckle, though he felt as though he were going to throw up if the man didn't close his mouth soon.

"Arthur Armstrong," the man said, extending a greasy hand to Will.

Will hesitated, then shook Arthur's hand, wiping his own on his jeans when Arthur released him. "Will Hahn," he said

"Will…short for William?" Arthur asked.

"No, just Will."

"So, what's the problem?" Arthur propped his fat elbows on his table, part of his loose jacket falling into his little tub of ketchup.

"I've got two girlfriends, one's coming to visit and neither of them know I'm with both of them," Will summarized, pleased with his short explanation.

"So?" Arthur raised an eyebrow, a skeptical grin on his face.

"'So?' What do you mean?"

"Keep 'em both!" Arthur chuckled. "Two for one!"

Will laughed. "It's not that simple."

"Sure it is!" Arthur said, his voice growing a bit too loud. A few people looked over and Will felt his cheeks growing red. "Just make sure they never find out!"

"I can't do that," Will said, shaking his head. "I'll figure something out…"

"You can't just – " A loud bang interrupted Arthur and both men looked up at the glass doors just in time to see a woman with a torn cheek and ragged throat throw herself against the doors a second time.

"What the hell is wrong with _her_?" one of the cashiers said, stepping away from the door.

"Artie, go lock the doors," another cashier said.

As Artie approached the door, the ragged woman threw herself against the doors excitedly, snarling and panting, smearing blood all over the glass so a red glow was cast on the tiled floors of Happy Burger. There was a click as Artie flicked the lock.

"What are you guys doing?" a woman cried from one of the booths in the back of the room. "Let her in! She obviously needs help!"

"We've got someone calling an ambulance," said the cashier that had told Artie to lock the door.

"Kim! The phone's dead!" a voice called from the kitchen.

The cashier, Kim, frowned and disappeared into the kitchen to where the voice had come from. A few seconds later she reappeared. "Does anyone have a cell phone?" she called out. The woman outside had been joined by three other people, all bloody and torn apart like the woman. They threw themselves against the door and windows, smearing blood and saliva everywhere they touched.

A few women dug around in their purses for their cell phones, men reaching into their back pockets. Will checked his own cell phone and groaned. His frustrated groan was lost among the rest as everyone at once realized they had no reception.

"Damn it!" Kim swore. "Artie, try to get them to leave…" she suggested. The tremble in her voice revealed her hesitation.

"Fuck!" the voice from the kitchen screamed. "Kim, they got in through back!"

"Shit…" Kim looked around. "Okay, everyone, stay calm, we'll get this under control!" Kim shouted before disappearing into the kitchen again. "Shaina, where are you?" There was a moment of silence as the whole restaurant held their breath, waiting to hear Shaina reply, but there was nothing. "Oh my God!" Kim screamed. "Get off her!" Artie darted behind the counter, followed by Will, Arthur and a few others.

Will stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Shaina. The pretty tomboy of a cashier Will had gone to high school with lay on the ground, her throat ripped out, eyes lifeless. Kim was on her knees, sobbing by Shaina's body. The person that had killed Shaina lay in the corner of the kitchen, a knife in his head. The back door was securely locked but the sound of pounding from the other side made it obvious there were others waiting to get in. Will and Arthur exchanged glances but before anyone could say anything, Shaina sat up.

"Shaina?" Kim said softly, sniffling. Shaina wrapped her arms around Kim and pulled her close. Kim was about to put her arms around Shaina as well when Shaina sank her teeth into Kim's neck. Kim screamed but Shaina kept a firm hold on Kim, tearing away the flesh at Kim's neck and shoulder. Artie, Will, and Arthur tried to pull Shaina off of Kim as quickly as they could while the woman and other two men who had followed tried to get Kim away from Shaina.

Shaina finally let go of Kim and turned on Artie, her teeth finding his cheek and pulling, revealing white bone and muscles. Artie screamed, holding his cheek in horror, and tripped over someone's leg, breaking his head open as it hit one of the broken tiles with an edge that stuck two inches out of the ground. One of the men threw up on Kim's leg as Kim lay twitching on the kitchen floor, blood pouring out of her neck and shoulder. Arthur pushed Shaina away with all his strength. The back of Shaina's head hit the sharp, metal corner of a counter and she fell to the ground, dead. Then there was only the sound of Kim gurgling, the blood catching in her throat. She twitched one more time and then was still.

Will backed out of the kitchen, feeling sick. The few people still out in the restaurant stared at him in horror. He looked at the door and opened it, knowing what he was letting in…and knowing that he was getting out.

* * *

**Scrunchii Note: So hopefully you guys liked this! I have no idea when I'll update but the second chapter is more than halfway done so it probably won't take too long! Please review, but try not to just leave, "I liked it, update!" or "I hate it, die!" Constructive criticism would be wonderful, please! Thanks so much!**

Much love and _**big kisses**_,  
Steph


	4. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

**I**

**October 8th, Monday 10:02 a.m.**

_**"W**_hen do we get to stop?" Staci's whining voice came from the back seat. Geri closed her eyes, hoping to block the annoying blond out. "I seriously have to pee _really_ bad."

"Silent Hill is literally five miles away, Staci, you can hold it," Weston said patiently, like a father talking to his daughter. Geri opened her eyes in time to see the green sign passing by, "_Silent Hill – 5 Miles_" written in bold, white letters, the bottom of the sign decorated in colorful graffiti. Geri turned in her seat to see how everyone was doing. Weston had volunteered to drive with Geri as his navigator so the rest had just filed into the car, rather like cattle being ushered into their pens. Staci and Tony had taken the middle seats of the minivan, leaving Elliot by himself in the very back. Elliot hadn't seemed to care, he just stretched out and fell asleep, his pink hair falling in front of his eyes.

"What's with the pink?" Geri had asked Elliot once.

"It was supposed to be red but it turned pink because of the green and blue dye I had already used on it," Elliot had said with a shrug. It had only been a few days ago but it seemed like years. With every passing day Geri felt as though a year went by. Awake, Elliot looked like a typical punk teenager, living only to rebel, but when he was asleep he looked like a little boy, his head resting on his hand, the other hand resting on the pocket of his jacket that held his gun.

The van was silent for the next ten minutes until finally it turned, driving down the silent road that would lead them to the town. "We're just getting some food, let Staci go to the bathroom, and then we're out of here," Weston said, his voice quiet, as though afraid to break the silence.

"Hurry…" Staci said, bouncing up and down in her seat like an impatient two-year old.

Finally Weston turned the van into the parking lot of a yellow and red restaurant called Happy Burger. "Be quick," Weston said. "Anyone else gotta go?"

Elliot sat up tiredly. "Me," he said, holding back a yawn.

Geri shrugged and said, "Me too, I guess."

"Tony and I'll wait here." Weston turned the keys and the engine of the van was silenced.

The three climbed out of the van and Staci ran toward the already open door of the fast-food restaurant. "The door's open," she said tonelessly.

"Duh," Geri said, rolling her eyes. She took out her gun and held it out in front of her cautiously. Elliot followed her lead and watched Geri carefully. Geri eased the door open wider and poked her head in slowly, looking first left, then right. She took a step inside and paused to listen for the softest of noises. She stiffened when she heard something – a soft shuffle of footsteps coming from the back of the restaurant, the kitchen? She took another step and stopped again. There was another noise, the clicking of claws on tile. There was definitely something in the kitchen – two things at least, a person and probably a dog.

_But are they dead?_

Geri breathed in silently. She had no way of knowing, but there was only one way to find out. She turned quickly and nodded her head, motioning to her gun. Elliot nodded while Staci crossed her legs frantically.

_Is the bathroom safe?_ she mouthed to Geri, her eyes wide.

"I don't know," Geri whispered, frowning. She turned and to her horror heard the sound of a door opening. _Were _the zombies smart enough to open doors? Geri prayed it wasn't a zombie and turned. To her right was the hallway that led to the bathrooms and most likely the door to the kitchen, if this Happy Burger was set up like most fast-food restaurants. Geri hated making assumptions but it was all she could do. She squinted but the hallway was pitch dark. "Flashlights?" she whispered, turning to Staci and Elliot. She turned her head back to the hallway as quickly as she could, not wanting to take her eyes away from the unknown.

A moment later Elliot was poking Geri's back with a flashlight. Geri took it from him wordlessly and clicked it on, shining the light down the black hallway. She felt her heart skip a beat – it was empty. _A door opened_, she thought to herself. She knew she had heard it. She took a step cautiously toward the hallway, expecting a dog or zombie to leap out at her any minute. It was unlikely that a human zombie would leap out at her – they were slow – but the dogs were as fast as they had been before they were killed and they were dangerous.

She was halfway down the hallway when she finally turned around for a moment to see Elliot and Staci following her cautiously. She motioned to the bathroom door next to her. Staci passed Elliot and Geri and open the door quickly, hardly bothering to check for safety. Geri waited a moment to see if Staci would scream for help but there was nothing so she kept going, keeping her eye on the kitchen door at the end of the hallway. Elliot followed her, obviously more interested in what Geri was looking for than going to the bathroom.

Usually Geri avoided the zombies at all costs but there was something telling her this wasn't a zombie. She knew there was something alive back there. And then she heard the one thing she had been waiting to hear.

"Shh!" came from the kitchen, a voice. A human voice. A low, guttural growl came from the door and there was a soft, clicking sound as the knob of the kitchen door was turned. "There's nothing out there," a girl hissed.

"Hello?" Geri called out, her voice loud and clear.

"Shit!" the girl screamed.

Geri shined the flashlight at the door and the kitchen door was pushed open, revealing a girl about seventeen or eighteen. The girl squinted at Geri and covered her eyes to shield them from the light. Geri lowered the flashlight. "Who are you?" she asked.

The girl stepped completely out of the kitchen, followed by a small, white dog. "My name's Maria Rodriguez, who the fuck are you?"

**II**

**October 8th, Monday 6:30 a.m.**

_**E**_milie could feel Silent Hill even now, in the car Josh and Joey had found in the parking lot. The only car in the entire hotel parking lot. She grinned, feeling proud. She hadn't asked Josh how he knew how to hotwire a car, she was just glad to be with them. At first the boys had been annoying – they weren't even boys, Joey was in his early forties and Josh wasn't a day younger than thirty-five – but they had kept her sane. What Emilie would have done without human companions, she wasn't sure. They had been able to see clips of the news in the places they'd been staying the nights at for the past six days. They knew what the things were and even how to kill them but the news hadn't been able to explain how it had happened.

"Almost there," Emilie announced cheerfully. She had put on a happy-go-lucky face for the men so they wouldn't be so concerned for her all the time but all she felt was dread as she drove closer and closer to Will. Would he be okay? Would he be dead? Alive? Dead/alive? She had told Josh and Joey about Will and the idea kept them sane. They had to be doing something, just driving around waiting for things to be normal again wasn't enough.

"So, this Will guy, what's he look like?" Joey asked, leaning back in his seat. Emilie grinned, genuinely happy for a moment.

"He's beautiful," she said breathlessly. "He's got really thick brown hair, it's kind of past his shoulders…or at least it was when I last saw him. I hope he hasn't cut it. His eyes are this amazing blue, like those pictures of Greece, you know how the water's always really blue, they're like that. He's super tall. I come up to about his chest."

"You're tiny, Em," Josh said with a laugh. "He's probably not even that tall."

"I am not tiny!" Emilie shrieked indignantly. The men laughed. This was how they coped. The only way the three could handle what had been happening for the past week. When their car had been stolen the other day they had been sure they would die. It was rare to find a car that actually worked anymore but there was a perfectly fine one right outside the entrance of the hotel that morning. It hadn't been there the night before when Emilie and the guys had arrived but they figured whoever owned it was either dead or had abandoned it because there were too many people in it.

They passed a large green sign that said, "_Welcome to Silent Hill_." The "_Welcome_" had been crossed out by blue spray-paint and written above it were the words, "_Stay out of_" so the sign read, "_Stay out of Silent Hill_." Emilie almost laughed. That hadn't been there when she'd last visited Will a few months ago. Her moment of happiness was cut short when she realized it probably hadn't been there a few days ago either.

Silent Hill was as silent as always, but a thick fog rolled across the streets, making it almost impossible for Emilie to see.

"What the hell?" Joey said, as though insulted by the fog. "It's like they don't want you to see anything!"

Emilie rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate, driving as slowly as she could. "We'll try the grocery store where Will works first, maybe he's still there."

"Uh, honey, why would your man be hiding out in his grocery store a week after a bunch of zombies start eating people? Don't you think he'd have run away by now?" Josh said gently. Emilie shook her head. Josh was always saying things like this, trying to tell her to give up on Silent Hill.

"He knew I'd come for him," Emilie said with finality. "He'd never leave Silent Hill, he always said so."

"I don't think he took these circumstances into consideration when he told you that," Joey said, but he shrugged anyway, obviously not really caring.

Josh sat back with a sigh of defeat and waited patiently for Emilie to find the grocery store. The fog rolled past the car, so thick it was as though they were driving through a cloudy sky.

"Is it always like this here?" Josh asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"No," Emilie said, shaking her head. "At least, not when I lived here. There were always some foggy days, 'cause we're so close to Toluca Lake, but it was never…this bad." She paused for a moment then let out a groan of frustration. "Guys, this isn't working. We'd better just walk. At this rate we're never going to get anywhere."

_"Walk_?" Josh yelped. "Out _there_? Are you crazy? We can't go out there – in _that _fog! Who cares if we take forever, at least we're safe in here."

"We're not safe in here, Josh," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "We're in just as much danger in here as we are out there."

"You're _agreeing _with her?" Josh said exasperatedly. "I'm not going out there. I'll meet you at the grocery store, just hand me the keys."

"Josh, we've got to stick together," Emilie insisted. "Come on, we've got guns. In here we can't even shoot the zombies."

Joey opened his door, holding his gun out in front of him, and started walking. Emilie followed suit, pulling out her own gun. Josh sighed, running his fingers through his long blond hair, and sighed, pulling out his gun as well and following the two. "Suicide," he muttered under his breath.

"Stop being so dramatic," Emilie said. A few days ago she had abandoned her heels for a pair of running shoes, better suited to escaping the groping fingers of the hungry zombies. She stopped for a moment to tie the laces, feeling them loosen, and remembered to call out to Joey who was a few steps ahead of her. "Stop for a sec," she said and Joey turned. Josh stopped where he stood, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

"Josh, watch out!" Joey suddenly screamed, pulling out his gun. Emilie stood and turned, ready to shoot, but it was too late. The zombie wrapped its arms around Josh's neck and bit before Josh had time to react. Josh screamed and pulled at the hair of the zombie, but it kept its mouth firm against Josh's neck. Joey ran forward and grabbed the zombie away. It landed at Joey's feet and he prepared to shoot it when it grabbed his leg, biting quickly.

"Shit!" Emilie screamed and shot the thing in the back. The zombie didn't notice and Joey finally shot it in the head, tearing his leg away from its still mouth. Josh fell, clutching his bleeding neck.

"Shoot me," he managed to say as blood and drool dribbled out the sides of his mouth. Joey closed his eyes for a moment, then raised his gun, aiming for Josh's forehead. Josh closed his eyes, Emilie turned away, and Joey pulled the trigger. Emilie turned back to Joey with tears in her eyes and her jaw dropped. With the gun pointed at his own head, Joey wordlessly pulled the trigger again and Emilie was alone.

**III**

**October 2nd, Monday 10:45 a.m.**

**_T_**he restaurant was out of sight when Will heard his name being called. He turned in time to see chubby Arthur Armstrong jogging after him, waving his arms for him to wait for him. Will sighed, wishing he could keep going without Arthur, but he didn't have the heart. He waited for a moment, looking nervously around him.

"Thanks," Arthur said, breathing hard.

"Don't get too comfortable, we're going into the woods," Will said, walking as fast as he could without breaking into a run again.

"Why're we going to the woods?" Arthur asked, struggling to keep up.

"Because that's where Josie is," Will said with finality. _Or at least I hope she is…_he added silently. What if the reason she hadn't shown up at Happy Burger today was because she had been killed by one of those…things? What if she wasn't at the Flannings' house? He tried to shut out the doubt but he couldn't entirely keep them out. The path through the woods was in front of him, covered in snow. The long, dirt driveway up the Flannings' house wasn't far but there weren't any trees covering it so Will figured the snow was probably even deeper there. He looked down at his jeans regretfully. His legs would be numb by the time he got up there, but he didn't care. He trudged through the snow, hearing Arthur struggle behind him.

"Can't this Josie girl come down here?" Arthur muttered irritably behind him.

"I didn't ask you to come with me," Will said, wishing Arthur would turn back.

Arthur didn't speak again. For the next fifteen minutes they struggled up the snow-covered dirt path in silence until Arthur worked up the courage to speak again. "What do you think they are?" he asked softly.

"How should I know?" Will grumbled.

"I think they're zombies," Arthur said, as though he hadn't heard Will. "You know, like all those Romero movies. They're eating people, they look dead. They fit the description."

"In _Dawn of the Dead_ they could run," Will muttered.

"So?"

"I haven't seen any of them run."

"So maybe it's not _just _like the Romero movies but they're zombies, right? So they're already dead." Arthur paused for a moment, letting Will digest this. "But they can die. By shooting them in the head. It's the zombie movie rule. To kill a zombie you shoot them in the head. And besides, that _Dawn of the Dead_ was a remake. They didn't run in the original and that was the good one."

"This isn't a zombie movie, Arthur," Will said, trying not to raise his voice. "Zombies are just as much a fantasy as unicorns and elves. One person says elves are little people who work in Santa's workshop, others say they're blond guys with a bow and arrow. You can't just say because Romero thinks a zombie dies by a bullet to the head that real zombies…what the fuck am I saying? Real zombies…" Will laughed. "These guys are just crazy people. They're not zombies."

Before Arthur could argue back there was a low moan from the woods. Will froze. Heavy breathing. Was it Arthur or the zombies? No! Not zombies…just crazy people. The crunching of snow. Something was definitely in there.

"Run!" Will shouted. Arthur followed without hesitation, the tree branches whipping by them, hitting Will in the face, grabbing at his jacket. He could practically see them behind him, stumbling through the deep snow, flesh hanging off of white bone, arms hanging uselessly at their sides, mouths open, hungry moans, blank, lifeless eyes.

Zombies.

**IV**

**October 2nd, Monday 11:35 a.m.**

_**A**_rthur waved his arms, ushering the group in the basement as the front door was pushed open by the crowd of zombies. Lucy and John were the first ones in, then Josie, and finally Will. Arthur turned, about to close the door, when the zombies pulled him back, biting into his shoulder and legs, ripping away clothes and flesh, chewing on both. Arthur screamed, begged for help, but Will could only close the door to keep the rest from getting in.

"What are those!" Lucy screamed, clutching John's arm, the sleeves of her sweater covering her small, white hands.

"They're zombies," Will said, hating himself for saying it.

"Zombies?" John repeated doubtfully. "Zombies aren't real…there must be something – "

"That's what I thought at first," Will interrupted. "But it's true, they're zombies. What other explanation is there? I've seen a person killed and get back up as though she was fine and then kill someone else."

"Who?" Josie asked softly.

"Shaina," Will said, not looking her in the eye. Lucy choked back a sob.

"Who's died?" John asked, giving up.

"Shaina killed Kim and Artie, and I think a lot of others…I left before I saw anyone else die but with that crowd…there's a lot." Will took a deep breath. "We should get out of here before they find a way in."

"We're safe in here!" Lucy argued.

"No we're not," Will scoffed. "There's just one door to keep us safe and you saw how quickly they got in through the front door. Arthur's keeping them busy for now." Will paused for a moment, disgusted, then continued. "But it'll only last a few more minutes. We _have _to leave."

"I won't leave," Lucy said stubbornly. "Someone will come help."

"That's what Arthur and I were trying to do and now look what's happened!" Will yelled. Lucy buried her face in John's chest and sniffled.

"Let's just wait a few more minutes. They might not try to get in here at all. Maybe they'll forget about us and leave," John said in his soft, calm voice. Josie nodded and took Will's hand.

"Have you seen Maria?" Josie asked later when John had gotten Lucy to calm down and fall asleep. The zombies had apparently left because it was silent upstairs so the group had agreed to just stay in the basement until help arrived.

"She was at work this morning," Will said. Josie's younger sister, Maria, worked for Will at the Hahn family grocery store as a cashier. "She was pissed, as usual."

"Did you try to find her?" Josie asked.

"What?"

"Before you came here, did you check the store to see if she was okay? Why didn't you bring her here?" There was an accusing tone in Josie's voice and Will realized he had made a huge mistake.

"Uh…no," he said softly. "I didn't think about – "

"Didn't _think_ about it?" Josie yelled. "You mean you didn't even think about seeing if Maria was okay? Oh God…she could be dead…Oh my God. Why didn't you check on her? Shit…"

"Jo, I'm sure she's fine," Will said, trying to keep Josie quiet. Lucy stirred on the couch in one of the corners. John looked up, Lucy's legs resting on his lap, and looked Will over, his message obvious: Make Josie mad, make John mad.

"Why didn't you check on Maria?" Josie hissed.

"I was worried about you," Will whispered back. "You didn't show up at Happy Burger and then when Shaina, Kim, and Artie were attacked I thought maybe you had been attacked so I had to make sure you were safe here…"

"If Maria's dead you'd better know that it's all your fault for not trying to save her first," Josie said through clenched teeth.

"What was a supposed to do, Jo?" Will asked exasperatedly. "I didn't even think…I mean, shouldn't you be grateful that it was you who came to my mind first?"

"Grateful?" Josie repeated loudly. Will looked over at Lucy and John, watching Lucy stir in John's lap as John stared daggers at Will.

"Shh," Will said softly, motioning with his hand for her to be quiet but Josie ignored him.

"Grateful? I should be grateful that you don't give a damn about my little sister? That you'll condemn her because you're more interested in the sister you fuck?"

"Josie…" Will sighed. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Josie said nothing, just turned away. "Are we going to be stuck in this fucking basement forever or are we getting out of here?" she asked, obviously directing her question to John.

"Why doesn't someone check upstairs and see if they're gone?" Lucy suggested groggily, rubbing her eyes and arching her back, like a kitten waking from its nap.

"I'll go," Will volunteered, eager to get away from Josie.

"Don't come back," Josie said as he started up the stairs.

Will rolled his eyes but ignored her, his heart pounding as he took each step slowly, carefully. The old, basement stairs creaked, the wood bending, and for one surreal moment Will was sure he was about to fall through the stairs. Finally he reached the top step. He didn't have to open the door to hear that they were still out there. _Maybe you can run past them_, Will thought. He opened the door slowly. The kitchen was crowded with the zombies, all standing there, looking around. They had filled the entire house, leaking through the rooms like a flood. Will slammed the door shut when one of them looked him in the eye.

"What's it like up there?" John asked as Will ran down the stairs, praying the zombies wouldn't try to get into the basement.

"No way we can get out. It's full of those things."

Lucy sniffled. "We're going to die down here," she whimpered.

"We're not going to die," John assured her, rubbing her shoulders gently. "They'll leave in a few hours and we can get out of here."

"They won't leave," Lucy said, shaking her head, growing obviously more and more upset by the minute. "We're going to starve in here."

"You're not going to starve," John said, rolling his eyes. "Go back to sleep."

"I have to pee," Lucy muttered, her face red.

"Oh," John and Will said at the same time.

The four looked around the room. "What about that little hole in the corner?" Josie asked. "The one we used to hide our dolls in."

"I guess," Lucy said.

Will and John turned away. "Uh, so…how's life?" Will asked, trying to make things less awkward for Lucy.

"Well, as of now it's pretty bad," John said with a shrug, catching on.

"Mine too," Will said softly.

* * *

**Author's Note: I wouldn't trust me to update soon, sorry :( If you want to know why, check the News section of my profile or email me. Anyway, there's the second chapter :)**


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